Claude Bouchard Books

We’ve all run into our share of idiots, morons, trolls and the like on Twitter and this is a subject I’ve blogged about a few times in the past. A week or two ago, maybe mid-December, I received a tweet from @_Verify_Help,asking if I was interested in having my twitter account verified. This account itself was not verified, was following around 15 other accounts, had 5 followers and its listed website was via surveymonkey.com. This screamed authentic, trustworthy, safe and secure and a whole bunch of other positive things as much as it confirmed I was the official leader of the universe. I ignored the tweet.

On Friday, December 23rd, the little slug contacted me again, once again offering its service and I checked out the account once more. It now followed approximately 35 accounts but had an alarming 21K+ followers… Obviously, some people believed this slime-ball was the real thing and hoped to get verified status with the worm’s help. The listed website was now simply twitter.com, which brought one to the general timeline.

I played along and indicated that yes, I would love to get a verified status and shortly received the form to be completed as a link to the previously mentioned surveymonkey page. I dare not include the actual link here for fear someone might click it and actually complete and submit the form. Besides requesting one’s Twitter account name, the form also asks for full name, email, location and Twitter account password. Here’s the exact wording for the password request:

*6. Twitter Account Password, Your Password is For Twitter Records, Your Twitter Account Will Be Safe.

The form ends with the following mention:

Once You Filled Out The Form You Will Receive a Email FromTwitter About 12 - 48 Hours Since You Filled Out The Form Saying Your Twitter Account Verified.

Thank You,

Twitter inc.

Real professional and authentic indeed, and I should know since I’m the official leader of the universe, remember?

I emailed Twitter with this information and an hour later, had the impression the account had been closed since searching for it by name rendered the message “This account does not exist.” However, the gutless sleazebag contacted me again this morning under the name @Ilovebbbal to ask if I was still interested in getting my account verified. I told him he was a fraud and the account ceased to exist again moments later. It is now @iilovebbb, following 45 accounts and with 21,635 followers. I suggest blocking this account, reporting it to Twitter and spreading the word. Why? Because I despise gutless hackers.

Bottom line is, Twitter knows what your password and other information is because they are Twitter… Also, Twitter doesn’t accept public verification requests anymore and hasn’t for a while now.

Don’t give your password to dweebs, no matter how enticing and exciting the offer seems. These are sick little animals who will just screw up what you’ve put together simply because they are sorry trash who have no lives.